The Gilo Beach Crimes: Architect Charged in Long Island Serial Killer Case

[ad_1]

By Bernd Debussmann Jr BBC News Jul 14, 2023 18:13 GMT

Updated 38 minutes ago

photo caption,

Victims Megan Waterman (left), Amber Costello (center) and Melissa Barthelemy (right)

An architect has been charged with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in New York state.

Rex Herman, 59, is accused of killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. A fourth woman is suspected dead.

On Friday, the married father pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Detectives investigating the Gilgo Beach murders say they are matching DNA from the pizza the suspect ate with genetic material found on the women’s remains.

“Rex Heuermann is a demon who walks among us – a predator that has devastated families,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said at a news conference Friday.

The suspect, who was arrested at his home Thursday night, faces three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of the three women.

After a petition was filed on his behalf in court, Mr Heuermann reportedly broke down in tears, telling his lawyer: “I didn’t do this.”

Barthelemy, Mrs. Waterman, and Mrs. Costello were found dead in 2010 near the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard Barnes.

The women were dubbed the Gilgo Beach Four. The prosecution said that all four were sex workers.

Image source, RH Consultants and Associates

photo caption,

Rex Hermann is an architect who has worked in Manhattan since 1987

“Each of the four victims was found in a similar position, bound in a similar fashion with either belts or tape, with three of the victims being found wrapped in a burlap-type material,” US Attorney General Ray Tierney told a news conference on Friday.

The district attorney said the case against Heuermann was built on cell phone records linking him to the victims, as well as on a pickup truck seen near one of the victim’s homes. He allegedly communicated with the victims using “stove” phones, which he later disposed of.

Phone records also allowed investigators to determine that the deaths occurred while Mr. Heuermann’s wife and children were out of town.

Hair was found on a piece of burlap used to wrap one of the victims, and was linked to Mr. Heuermann via a sample from a box of pizza he dumped in a Manhattan dumpster in January 2023.

Investigators say he was entrapped in taunting calls made by someone claiming to be the killer to a Barthélemy family member using her mobile phone.

Barthelemy was kidnapped in 2009. Waterman and Costello disappeared in 2010.

Mr Heuermann is also a prime suspect in the death of Ms Brainard Barnes, who was kidnapped in 2007, although he has not yet been charged with her murder.

In 2010, police were searching for a missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, when they discovered the remains of four others.

In all, 11 sets of human remains were found on the same stretch of Gilgo beach between 2010 and 2011, associated with nine women, a man and a small child. The identities of the four remain unknown, including the child, her mother and the man.

Image source, Getty Images

photo caption,

11 groups of human remains were found on Gilju beach in 2010 and 2011

Gilbert’s remains were eventually found, and the official post-mortem examination was inconclusive. Her family believes she may have been murdered – a theory supported by an independent autopsy they ordered.

A new task force was set up to investigate the Gilgo Beach murders in February 2022. Tierney said it became the focus of the investigation within a month. Investigators in the case have issued more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants.

Since the formation of the task force, Mr. Heuermann has also allegedly used a burn phone to conduct more than 200 searches on topics related to serial killers and the Long Island investigation.

Court documents showed that this included researching “why the Long Island serial killer wasn’t caught” and “mapping Long Island murder victims.”

Image source, Getty Images

photo caption,

Investigators at the suspect’s house

Mr Tierney added that “torture pornography” and “images of women being abused and killed” had been found on Mr Heuermann’s computer.

The investigation of the other victims is still ongoing.

Mr. Heuermann is the owner of RH Consultants and Associates, a Manhattan architecture firm that describes itself as “New York City’s premier architectural firm.”

The Associated Press reported that he has a daughter and a stepson. A neighbor described that the suspect went to work every morning, wearing a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase.

In a YouTube interview for a real estate-focused channel last year, he said he’s been working in the heart of New York City since 1987, describing himself as a “troubleshooter.”

People who lived near his home in Massapequa Park on Long Island expressed surprise at his arrest.

“The guy was quiet, he never bothered anyone,” neighbor Etienne Devilliers told CBS, the BBC’s American partner.

“We were shocked. Because this is a very quiet neighborhood. Everyone knows each other, all of our neighbors, we’re all friendly.”

[ad_2]